If the past has shown us anything, it is that if one automaker makes a product that fashions a new segment or even a sub-segment and it’s successful, other companies will follow suit – the original Toyota RAV4 and the BMW X6 are just two examples. Heck, automakers themselves will try to replicate their own success by using the same formula on a different size vehicle.
This doesn’t guarantee success, of course, as many vehicle manufacturers learned the hard way, including Acura with the BMW X6-like ZDX that was quietly put to rest last year.
After leaving the Germans dominate the compact SUV segment for years, Lexus decided to fight back this year with the NX, an edgy-looking proposal that also brings to the table the firm’s first turbocharged gasoline unit (a 235hp / 238PS 2.0L inline-four). It will go head to head with the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes GLK.
The Bavarian firm, however, has already moved on to the next level presenting the X6’s small brother in the guise of the X4, which shares its styling with the former and its underpinnings with the X3.
Photoshop manipulator Remco Meulendijk of DesignRM took a speculative look at a Lexus NX-based competitor for the BMW X4, which he baptized the NXC. The main difference with the NX in F Sport trim is the coupe-like roofline that drops down to the modified tailgate, with the rest of the car remaining as is. If Lexus were to build a sportier compact crossover, it would have to further differentiate it from the NX.
By John Halas
Renderings: DesignRM
PHOTO GALLERY
